Freshwater Shrimp Farming-Black Tiger Shrimps

What Is Shrimp Farming?

Shrimp farming is a way of producing shrimps or prawns for consumption. It is an aquaculture business that started in the 1970s and has gained a lot of popularity in recent times. Shrimp farming is done in both marine and freshwater conditions. However, freshwater shrimp farming has been more popular as it is easy to have control over the various factors that could affect shrimp production. Freshwater shrimp farms are abundant in China, which produces a huge majority of the annual freshwater shrimps. Wide varieties of shrimps are produced on these farms and most of them are located in Asia. Asia has grown to be a hub for shrimp production, especially the black tiger shrimp.

What are Black Tiger Shrimps?

Black tiger shrimps are also known as the Black Diamond Shrimp and are very popular. They belong to the Tiger Shrimp species and are selectively bred of the normal Tiger shrimp. Tiger shrimps that originally occur are bred for broader and bigger black stripes and after a few generations they appear to be completely black. There are two major varieties of Black tiger shrimps

•Black eyed Black Tiger Shrimps

•Orange Eyed Black Tiger Shrimps

The orange eyed black tiger shrimps are known to fetch a much higher price than the black eyed shrimp and hence are generally the favorite among shrimp farmers.

Conditions Required for Black Tiger Shrimp Farming

There are a few conditions that have to be met for Black tiger shrimp farming and they are vital for a good yield.

•These shrimps require clean cold alkaline waters.

•The water temperature has to be between 70-74F

•PH of the water has to be above 7.2

•Fed has to be once a day and the preferred food are algae.

•Overfeeding has to be avoided as it can lead to death of the shrimps and cause the quality of the water to drop

•Even if the shrimps are not fed for two days, they can survive, as they are scavengers

Breeding Constraints

Black Tiger Shrimp is known to be difficult to breed and even more difficult to be kept alive. Since their genetics are poor, this shrimp species are known to be very fragile. In such circumstances, breeding of this variety is a tough task even for experienced breeders. Because of its black color, it is very difficult to spot them in low light conditions and sexing of this species cannot be done on their juvenile stage. You need to wait till they mature as adults to get the sexing done and this can be an issue. The major difference between male and female shrimps is the curved underbelly of the females and the fact that female black tiger shrimps tend to be larger than their male counterparts. These tiger shrimps can grow to about 13 inches, but the regular harvest size is between 9 and 11 inches. When these shrimps are bred under the required conditions, the yield is bound to be good and as it is considered to be a rare species, especially the orange eyed tiger shrimp the profitability of the freshwater shrimp farms producing black tiger shrimp will not be a concern.

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